Across the Pond
by anni-viech
Summary: When Jack had been walking over his Pond, he really hadn't expected falling through it. Now just to figure out how to get back home... [Gen]
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Ok, this plot bunny randomly popped up and simply wouldn't leave me alone, shouting "Write me down! Write me down or I'll keep bothering you in the back of your mind!" until I gave in. So I did._

_Disclaimer__: Don't own anything – obviously._

**Across the Pond**

Colorful autumn leaves were dancing in a breeze, falling in lazy circles on a lone figure lying face down in the grass. A pale hand twitched, causing a red-tinted leaf to slip to the ground, shortly followed by a soft groan from the hand's owner. Ever so slowly teal eyes fluttered open, taking in the sight of grass blades. Blinking, the figure - now revealed to be a youthful looking male - sat up in a quick movement, just to regret it the next instant when the motion sent a sharp pain through his rib-cage. "Ow...", came the partly confused reaction, as the young man gingerly touched his hurting chest.

Oh, right. It took him a moment, but he remembered falling down, practically unbraked. His dark brows knitted into a frown. Why had the wind simply let him fall like that? And why had he been falling in the first place? Had he actually fallen _through_ the Pond?

And, above all, where was he?

The youth took a look around, realizing he was sitting in a park he did not recognize with no one else within sight. He spotted his staff lying a few metres away, it must have fallen out of his hand when he had collided with the ground. Mindful of his bruised rib-cage, the boy crawled towards it carefully, breathing out a relieved sigh when his hand clutched the familiar wood. Without his staff he felt vulnerable in a way, especially after that time Pitch had snapped it in half. He would probably never forget the horrible cracking sound and the feeling of something inside him snapping along with it. Even though he now knew that it wasn't the source of his abilities but rather a conduit, something to focus his powers through, it was still his most important possession. Its importance was of a more emotional kind; the staff had been a constant companion ever since his rebirth, and it was the one connection to his human life. The idea that Pitch could have destroyed it completely, instead of throwing the broken parts towards him, caused the boy to shudder. _'Really not the right time to think of that, Jack'_, he reprimanded himself.

Shaking those thoughts off, Jack used his staff as a support to stand up slowly, his silvery white hair catching the light of the late autumn sun in the motion. His chest still hurt a little, but it seemed like he'd be alright to move around. "Hey Wind, take me to the North Pole. Gotta find out what that was all about with the Pond..." The last part was murmured quietly, more to himself. When after a few seconds nothing happened, the white haired youth looked around him in confusion. "Wind? Is something wrong?"

When the wind died away around him completely in response, Jack had the feeling that something was horribly wrong. The wind had never ignored him before. And it had never let him fall like that before.

"Are you... are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?"

Silence. Not a single rustle in the foliage of the surrounding trees. Jack was beginning to get nervous.

"Hey, talk to me, Wind! Please?"

Finally the leaves began to move and a light breeze ruffled his hair in a sort of hesitant manner. He had almost sighed in relief - if only the breeze hadn't carried the feeling of surprised confusion along with it. Jack wasn't really sure how exactly it worked, but throughout the centuries he had learned to understand the wind, he could simply feel its meaning and intuitively _knew_ what the wind was trying to say.

And right now it had felt like it didn't know Jack.

Swallowing down the rising unease, the winter spirit let out a nervous laugh. "I got it! You're trying to make fun of me, right? Good one!"

The wind died down again, intensifying the impression of confusion.

He was starting to get really creeped out.

"Oh come one, it's me! Jack Frost! We've been friends ever since I can remember!"

Another gentle breeze caressed his cheeks then, still carrying along the impression of confusion along with what felt like an apology. The message was quite clear this time: _Sorry, but I don't know who you are._

That made Jack stagger back a few steps, shock and hurt written plainly over his face. "But... but all those fun times we had together! I- I've, I've been riding with you for over three hundred years, how can you not remember me?!" Hurt was colouring his voice, giving it a slightly shrill tone towards the end of his exclamation. The wind had been his first and most loyal friend, ever since it had picked him up at his Pond to greet him, right after his rebirth. And now it simply didn't know him anymore...?

The wind increased, apologizing for causing Jack hurt, but at the same time letting him know, that it had never known him in order to remember in the first place.

And that was when Jack noticed something; the wind felt... _different_ – and yet familiar at the same time. Familiar enough for him to understand it, but with a foreign touch, or flavor, for lack of a better word. He didn't know what to make of this.

The youth starting pacing, in an attempt to keep his emotions in check, wincing when his hips protested a little at the first steps. "Listen, I don't know what's going on... but could you maybe let me ride your drifts? I really need to be somewhere and find out what this is all about." He was giving the sky a pleading look.

The wind seemed to hesitate for a moment, until it nudged him from behind with a stronger gust.

Jack caught the awkward uncertainty in it and had to smile. "It's ok, you can simply toss me up and let me catch your drifts."

The wind did so and soon he found himself up in the air, tumbling around a little unsteadily at first. It wasn't nearly as uncontrolled as his first ride at the Pond, thanks to the centuries of experience, but still a far cry from his graceful snowflake-like gliding he had gotten used to. The wind also seemed to notice his familiarity with its drifts, and soon got bolder in tossing him around, loosing some of the former uncertainty.

"Well then, off to North's Workshop!", the winter spirit commanded.

His face fell when the wind didn't know any such place.

* * *

Ichigo Kurosaki burrowed his face deeper into his scarf. It had gotten really cold today, seemed like winter was slowly approaching. As if to confirm his suspicion, a single snowflake found its way to his nose. The orange haired youth wiped the moisture away with a grumble. Of course his old man had to choose the yet coldest evening of the season to make his son run his errands. Ichigo had been asked to pick up some medication for his dad's clinic at a local pharmacy, since the man was busy with something Ichigo hadn't bothered asking about. Well, his dad asking him translated more into the threat _"If you don't go, I'll kick your ass and eat your share of dessert at dinner"_, and damn it, today Yuzu was making his favourite pudding. The teen scowled at the memory of the blackmail, burrowing his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He was going to kick the old man's lazy ass when he got back – after he had his pudding.

He was entering Karakura's downtown area, crossing a road when he spotted a familiar tuft of white hair standing out in the crowd. With a surprised look, Ichigo made his was towards the figure mingling seemingly aimlessly with the crowd, confused at him not having sensed and turned towards him yet. In his haste to keep up and not loose sight of him, Ichigo ignored the fact that the height wasn't quite right and that he had never seen Hitsugaya wear a hoodie before, his mind being more occupied with the question why he was here. When he had finally gotten close enough, he grabbed the white haired youth's shoulder to get his attention. "Yo, Toshiro. What are you-..."

The question died on his tongue, when the youth turned around, revealing smiliar eyes to Toshiro's, but other than that not the face he had been expecting. Ichigo let go of the stranger's shoulder, feeling a little awkward about the mistake. He was about to apologize when he noticed how big the boy's eyes had gotten, his mouth forming a little 'o'.

The stranger's response was not quite as he had expected, either.

"You can see me!"

* * *

_A/N: Phew, finally got that plot bunny to shut up. Yay. I have no idea what to do with this thing now, though. Since I already wrote it down, I thought I might as well share it and see if maybe anyone has any ideas where this story could be going? If you do, feel free to share! Maybe I'll be actually inspired to continue this little crossover, or give it up for adoption, we'll see._

_Thanks for reading and have a nice day :)_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: So some people actually seem to be interested in reading more of this, eh? Made me happy :) (And actually made me write the second chapter the very next day... that's __extremely__ rare for my standarts.)  
Thanks for your interest!_

_But there's still that little problem that I have no real idea of where to take this story... So if anyone has any suggestions of where this might be going and what could happen, do feel free to let me know! (PM, review, however you wish) I could really use the inspiration. Thanks!_

**Chapter 2**

Jack was at his wits' end.

To say he was shocked when the wind had let him know that it didn't know of any magical workshop at the North Pole, would have been putting it mildly. He had demanded to be taken there anyway to see for himself at first, but the wind, having felt his shock, had managed to convince him that it wasn't worth the long travel just to have the shock hit him even more brutally by only seeing snow and ice where he expected something to be. Even though the wind felt different and still acted a little distant towards him, Jack could feel that it was being honest with him. So he thought that maybe something had happened while he'd been unconscious, and North had reason to hide his workshop in some magical way. Maybe that was why the wind couldn't find it? He knew he might be grasping at straws, but it was the only logical reason he could think of for the Workshop not to be there.

Instead, the wind had suggested bringing him somwhere else he might get answers, perhaps a little closer than the North Pole. So Jack had asked to be taken to Australia; maybe Bunnymund could help him out, or at least let him use on of his tunnels to get to North – those might still be working. Wherever he had been had seemed to be close enough for Australia, since the wind had agreed. It had taken him to the directions he gave, but when it had dropped Jack off, there hadn't been the brushwood covered door in a hill, that he remembered leading to Bunnymund's Warren. Out of desperation, he had started sticking his arm into random rabbit holes, hoping one of them might turn out to be a tunnel, even going so far as to shout the Pooka's name into a few. But there had been no response and no tunnel.

The wind had felt the winter spirit's growing desperation and offered to take him to another place. So Jack put all his hope into directing it to take him to Tooth's Palace in Asia. Yet when he arrived, there had been no floating palace in the sky and no sight of little fairies zooming around collecting teeth.

He had been so out of it by the realization, that he couldn't form a single clear thought. Sensing his emotional distress, the wind, feeling sorry for the young spirit, had taken him away, letting him ride its drifts in silence until he asked to be dropped off.

He was still in Asia, aimlessly roaming through the streets of a town somewhere in Japan. Jack simply couldn't comprehend how he had gotten into this situation or what was going on, nor where everyone was.

But he supposed it all had something to do with him falling through his Pond...

He had been having weird dreams about the Pond lately, strange shadows looming underneath the ice, seeming to be calling for him, just under his bare feet. Whenever he had tried to take a closer look or talk to them, he had woken up. So he had finally given in to his curiosity and gone to Burgess in order to check out if there was anything off. It had been a while since his last visit, and he planned on seeing Jamie afterwards.

At first glance, nothing had seemed to be amiss. His curiosity made him walk to the spot in his dreams, and only then, when he was actually walking towards it, did he realize it was the very place he had woken up at all those years ago, pulled out of the frozen water by the Man in the Moon. Yet before he had completely reached the spot, a movement in the trees surrounding the pond deflected his attention. A shadowy figure seemed to be retreating quickly into the grove. Jack had wasted no second, and without thinking scooted after it – but when he reached the spot he had been heading towards before, the ice under his bare feet suddenly disappeared. Jack could not remember it cracking under him or any water splashing; one second he was running on a solid coat of ice, and the next he found himself falling. Then everything went dark, and the next thing he knew, he was lying in the foreign park, with his body hurting from the impact.

It didn't make sense. It was _his own ice_, it simply was not possible that it would break under him without Jack even noticing. And what was that shadow doing at his Pond, anyway?

Jack ran his free hand through his hair in a frustrated move. He truly was at his wits' end. He briefly considered looking for Jamie, but the fear that he might not even find his very first believer made Jack hesitate. Could he take it if even Jamie and his friends where gone? Would that mean he was truly alone now; not believed in, unseen again, without even the Guardians or any other spirit to keep him company or talk to? The thought felt like a punch to his midriff, and he quickly cast it away. That simply wasn't possible. It _couldn't _be.

The winter spirit was trying to fight the nagging fear, but the more time he spent lost without any sign of his friends or anyone seeing him, the harder it became to not give in to the growing desperation.

So when all of the sudden he was feeling a hand on his shoulder, his heart stopped for a brief moment.

A voice was saying something, it sounded like it was directed at him, but he was so surprised that he didn't catch any of the words. All he could do was turn around slowly, taking in the face of a slightly taller boy around his age (or at least the age he looked) with strikingly orange hair – _looking straight into his eyes!_ And before he even thought about it, the words "You can see me!", had left his mouth.

* * *

Ichigo blinked.

"Uhm... yeah, I do."

Wow, did he really just randomly grab a ghost without even noticing it was one? Sheesh, talk about being- Wait. No, that couldn't be... The guy wasn't translucent in the least like a regular Plus and had no Chain of Fate, he was even corporal enough for Ichigo to touch in his human body. Yet he couldn't sense any Reiatsu coming from him, either, so he wasn't a Shinigami. He knew the few Shinigami who were powerful enough to hide their own Reiatsu, and he would remember anyone sharing Toshiro's unique haircolor. Or maybe he was in a Gigai, as he had assumed it to be Toshiro in one earlier? The orange haired boy watched the people around them, noticing a few giving him weird looks in passing, which he assumed was because they saw him talking to himself. So no Gigai then.

But what was this guy then?

Ichigo turned towards a shopping window on his right, acting as if he was checking out the goods on display. "Let's talk somewhere else, I really don't need the label 'deranged' for talking to thin air added to the pile." He glanced at the unknown spirit, noticing a multitude of emotions running across his face before nodding.

"Got it."

Ichigo continued on his way, the spirit following him in silence. He soon arrived at his destination in a less crowded street, and once again turned to the spirit. "I'll just pick something up and be right back, then we can talk. You wait here."

The spirit gave him a look at the commanding tone, but nodded nonetheless.

Ichigo entered the pharmacy and went quickly about his business. When he stepped out of the building again, he noticed the snow having increased rather strongly. "Great, and of course I didn't think to wear anything with a hood", he grumbled while looking up to the snowflakes falling from the purple sky.

"Sorry", the spirit replied unexpectedly.

Ichigo found him perched on the fence of a neighbouring building, of all things. And was he actually barefoot?

"I admit I'm a little out of it and just couldn't keep it in", the spirit added with a small grin, waving an odd wooden staff around.

"Are you saying you have something to do with that?", Ichigo asked while pointing to the sky with a thumb.

"'Course I have, what else did you think Jack Frost does?"

"Who?", Ichigo replied with a slow blink and a blank face.

That wiped the smirk off the shorter boy's face.

"Jack Frost!" Seeing the unchanging blank expression on Ichigo's face, he hopped off the fence and added, "You know, the Spirit of Winter... Father Frost? Old Man Winter?" With each stated name, the spirit's dark eyebrows went a up little higher, almost disappearing into his hairline.

_'Spirit of Winter?'_ Now that he could actually take a proper look at the spirit, Ichigo noticed that the blue hoodie he was wearing looked like it was covered with frost at some parts, especially around the shoulders and upper front, the street lights reflecting on it. The white hair and very pale skin also matched the 'Winter Style' he seemed to have going, but if he'd truly controlled the winter elements like Toshiro and Rukia, then he'd be definately emitting Reiatsu. He was just about to call the spirit out on that, when he continued talking.

"How can you see me if you don't even know who I am?"

Now it was Ichigo's turn to raise his brows. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"What does it-", the white haired youth sputtered, "It has _everything_ to do with it!", he gesticulated wildly with his arms. "You have to _believe_ in me in order to see me!"

Ichigo scoffed. "Oh, give me a break! Belief has nothing to do with seeing spirits. What, you didn't seriously think you're the only one, did you?"

The spirit was giving him an incredulous look. "Well, of course not, but-... Hang on, you have seen the other spirits?"

_'The' _other spirits? "Trust me, I've seen more than enough."

The guy's expression changed into an intense, hopeful stare as he drew closer to Ichigo, throwing him off track a little with the sudden change of emotion.

"When? Where?"

With each question his face drew closer, making Ichigo back off a step. "Oy, I don't know what you-"

"Was it an older guy with a white beard and swords, wearing a red coat?"

At the mention of the beard and swords, Ichigo had instantly thought of the Captain Commander, his instincts taking over and preparing to get ready for a fight just in case, until he mentioned a red coat. "Uh, don't think so-"

"Then maybe a huge bunny with boomerangs? Or a colorfully feathered fairy? Oh, I know! Probably a little golden man?"

Now Ichigo was simply wondering what the hell the spirit was going on about. It must have shown on his face, because the spirit backed off again, his shoulders slouched.

"You haven't seen them, right...?" His voice was low with disappointment.

Ichigo remained silent for a moment, regarding the dejected looking spirit. "I've seen some weird people for sure, but no one like you described, sorry."

The white haired youth turned away, kicking an empty soda can lying around with his bare foot. A moment passed in silence, until Ichigo finally asked what he had been wondering about. "You aren't a regular ghost, are you?"

The spirit looked up at him from where he was traipsing around, trailing his staff after him. "What do you mean with 'regular' ghost?"

"A dead person's soul. You know, a human that passed away recently."

The spirit turned and changed directions, still looking at him. "Nope, I've been like this for quite a while now. So you see ghosts, too?"

"Yeah." Remembering the time, Ichigo indicated for the spirit to follow him with a nod of his head, before starting his way back home. "So if you aren't one, what are you?"

Now that it was getting later in the evening and with the snow falling, less people were out and about, so the orange haired youth had more opportunities to talk to the spirit without risking getting weird looks.

The spirit quickly caught up with him, walking next to him on the street. "I told you, I'm the Spirit of Winter. Name's Jack Frost."

Ichigo sighed. "Kurosaki, Ichigo. And I don't really get what you mean with that."

"It means", Jack replied, "That I control the winter. You know, snow and ice and all that, that's my thing. Ever enjoyed sleeping in on a Snow Day? You're welcome."

His grin disappeard at Ichigo's slight frown.

"Right, I don't guess you get a lot of them here in Japan... But hey, I could give you one now! What do you say?"

"You're really trying to tell me you control the winter elements?"

The self-proclaimed winter spirit came to a stop next to him.

"Are you doubting me?"

"I have no reason not to", Ichigo replied before continuing to walk.

When no further reaction came, he looked over his shoulder to see if he was still being followed. Something in the spirit's mischievous expression made him instantly wary - for a reason, as he was soon to find out. Jack had lowered the curved part of his staff and suddenly broke into a run. As soon as he had passed Ichigo, he lowered the staff even further right in front of the teenager's feet, and to Ichigo's utter surprise the ground was suddenly covered with ice, making him slip and fall on his butt. He kept sliding for a few metres until coming to a halt in front of a smirking Jack where the ice abruptly ended.

Among the surprise and confusion in Ichigo's mind, one thought stuck out; '_Why always me?'_

-TBC?-

_A/N: So far, so good. Now what? 8D_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: A reviewer suggested to bring in Ishida in this chapter, so I thought, "Why not bring in the whole gang?" :D  
But yeah, other than that I still have no real idea where I'm going with this fanfic. :0_

**Chapter 3**

Ichigo got up with a scowl, glaring at the shorter youth still grinning cockily at him, while brushing off some cold wetness from his jeans. He made sure that none of the medication had fallen out of the plastic bag he was carrying, when suddenly a thought hit him - he hadn't sensed _anything_ when the ice under his feet formed... Looking up from the bag with a frown, he studied the spirit with some confused suspicion.

Said spirit lost his grin, brows also knitting into a frown.

"Something wrong?"

Ichigo stayed silent for a while, lost in thought, until he pulled out his cell phone from his jacket's pocket. "No", he mumbled in response while texting a message to Ishida. The Quincy used to know quite a bit more about the spirit world than Ichigo (even if he'd never admit it to the bespectacled boy), so he hoped he might help him out a little with the situation. Pocketing his phone again, he made to continue on his way. "Come on, let's get going before I'm completely drenched", he said while brushing snowflakes out of his bright, unruly hair. "I'll have a friend over soon, too." Damn, and just when he had been looking forward to his pudding... He just hoped his old man wouldn't dare eating his share anyway, while Ichigo was busy upstairs. There was a moment of hesitation from Jack, until he pulled Ichigo out of his thoughts.

"You want me to come along?"

"I'm not really keen on discussing this in the freezing snow", the teen replied. "Still have to find out what's up with you, too", he added with a sidelong glance at the spirit.

"Hey, I told you who I am!"

Ichigo was about to reply, when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket, accompanied with a sound that notified him of a new message. _'That was fast...'_ He pulled it out, but to his surprise the sender wasn't Ishida but Inoue.

_[I'm bringing some leftovers from the bakery over, see you in a few! ( ^o^)]_

Ichigo massaged the bridge of his nose, suppressing a sigh.

There went his relaxing, quiet evening.

* * *

When they had arrived - the orange haired teen going through the front door, delivering the goods, while Jack decided to go through the window and wait in his room upstairs - they didn't have to wait very long for the doorbell to ring. Which Jack was a little glad about, since there had been a sort of awkwardness between them in the room. A young female voice was heard from downstairs, shouting, "Ichi-nii, friends of yours!", and it took only a few more minutes for Ichigo to return with three other people. Jack was sitting on the bed, one knee up to his chest, his staff leaning against his shoulder, held between the bend leg and his arm, silently observing the newcomers. The first that caught his attention was a huge young man towering over the rest, whose complexion and body shape didn't look very Asian – more Latino, if Jack had to put his finger on it. Next was a girl with long auburn hair, just a few shades darker than Ichigo's. And lastly a bespectacled boy with dark hair, who sort of looked like he was in a sour mood.

When said boy suddenly concentrated his attention on Jack, seeming to be looking straight into his face, the winter spirit tensed, teal eyes going white. _'Does he-...'_

His silent question was answered when the boy faced Ichigo, asking, "Is he the reason you called all of us to gather here?" He gave the spirit another wary glance.

Before Ichigo had a chance to reply, the girl suddenly held up a paper bag for the rest to see, rubbing the back of her head with an awkward smile. "Ah, I actually just came over to bring some leftovers, hehe."

"I met Inoue near my place", the tanned big guy added with a calm, deep voice, "And she asked me to join her." He was also holding up a similar bag in his hand.

Ichigo was busy putting down some flat pillows to sit on around a low table in the middle of the room. After he plopped down on one, the others soon went to join him around the table.

"Well, since you were already on your way, I thought you might as well try helping me out with him", the orange haired youth commented while pointing a thumb towards the shocked spirit sitting on his bed.

"Wai-wait. Hold on. You can _all_ see me?!"

In response he simply got a few raised eyebrows and one simple nod.

For the next few minutes Ichigo told them about mistaking Jack for someone named Toshiro (something that surprised Jack, since he hadn't been very attentive in his surprise when the teen had first spoken to him), giving the winter spirit some time to adjust to the shock of being seen by multiple teenagers. Three hundred years of being invisible (well, except for the few kids in Burgess now), and suddenly there were several older humans in a single day, talking to him as if it was the most normal thing in the world. It was mind-boggling.

He was pulled out of his musings when everyone's attention suddenly rested on him. The winter spirit let his eyes roam over each curious face, feeling a little strange - if not even a little uncomfortable - at all the unfamiliar attention resting solely on him. It came to his mind that they were probably waiting for some kind of introduction. "Uh... hi", he began a little awkwardly, raising a pale hand in greeting. "Name's Jack Frost."

The only girl in the round suddenly gasped, brown eyes going wide. "You're the snowman-supplier!"

That comment earned her a few odd glances. She returned their looks with a confused one.

"What, has no one else heard of him?"

Ichigo rasied a brow at her. "You're telling me you have?"

"Uhn", she agreed. "Sora used to tell me to thank Jack Frost for supplying enough snow to build snowmen. I loved building them with him, we had so much fun in the snow!" A warm smile spread over the girl's face.

"Who's that?", Jack asked, feeling a little touched by the girl's words, even if he wouldn't admit it out loud.

"My older brother."

"Really? Where is he? Guess I owe that guy one", he grinned, happy that someone had told his little sister about him.

To his surprise the girl's eyes turned sad, her smile taking a bitter note.

"He died a few years ago."

That wiped any trace of a smile off the spirit's face. "Oh... I'm- I'm sorry..." _'Way to make a first impression, Jack...'_

"It's ok." Her smile brightened again. "I had the chance to see him again and properly say good bye to him, thanks to Kurosaki-kun, so it's alright."

Uppon hearing the orange haired teen's name, Jack's eyes automatically turned to him. Confusion spread through him when the teen adverted his eyes from the group, staring at the edge of the low table with a closed off face. What was it with these people...?

Awkward silence hang in the room for a while, until the girl suddenly exclaimed, "Oh! I'm Inoue, Orihime, by the way. Nice to meet you!"

Jack returned her smile a little awkwardly, glad for the change of topic, even though it was painfully obvious the girl tried to brush off what had just been said.

"And this are Sado-kun", she continued, pointing to the big guy who nodded towards him, then towards the other dark haired boy. "And Ishida-kun."

The latter pushed his glasses further up his nose with a single finger. "So you claim to be a spirit of winter?"

"No, buddy – _the_ Spirit of Winter", Jack corrected.

He hadn't quite finished talking, when Ichigo broke in, "Which is confusing me, since he actually seems to have power over the elements but doesn't have any Reiatsu!"

"Well I'm sure he _has_ Reiatsu", the Ishida guy replied, "You just suck at sensing it – once again."

"Oh yeah?" Ichigo crossed his arms, looking unimpressed. "Then go ahead and detect it, four-eyes."

Giving the other teen a withering look, Ishida turned to face Jack, staring at the spirit with a concentrated look that made Jack just a little nervous. What were they even talking about, anyway?

After a few moments, the bespectacled boy suddenly exclaimed, "But that isn't possible!"

"Told you so", Ichigo scoffed, looking somewhat smug.

"Unless he is powerful enough to hide it completely...", the dark haired teen added with a speculative glint in his eye.

Now Jack was seriously lost on them. "Uh... what exactly do you mean with that Ray-thing?"

There was short moment of hesitation, before Ishida replied. "You could also call it 'Spiritual Pressure'; every spirit that wields some kind of inner power, is emmiting a unique pressure, or energy, that can be sensed by trained individuals who possess some themselves. There are only very few cases in which an individual's Reiatsu is so high, that it simply goes beyond others' ability to sense it, literally playing on a whole different level. But these are extremely rare."

Jack noticed each one of them sneaking meaningful looks at Ichigo at that, who consequently ignored them. He was getting the feeling that there was something really weird going on with the teen.

The winter spirit rubbed his forehead, all of this becoming a little much to take in at once. "Soo... I take it you guys can sense that energy-pressure-thing?"

All of them nodded in response. Okay, that was kind of weird.

"And I'm not giving off any of that pressure?"

"No", Ishida replied. Another moment of silence followed that statement, until he continued, "Have you ever made living humans sense you in a way? Maybe even affecting them physically with simply your presence?"

Jack couldn't hold back a bitter smirk from spreading over his lips at that question. "If you don't count making it cold around them and freezing stuff, then no. And even then they didn't use to see or hear me", the latter was spoken more quietly with a bitter note in his voice, not really meant to be spoken out loud.

Finally, the bespectacled teen tried a different way of questioning. "Hmm. Well, seeing as you can apparently control the elements, I'd assume you to be a Shinigami, but the lack of Reiatsu is quite confusing..."

"A Shini-what?"

"You don't even know what a Shinigami is?" Ishida's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Maybe you can start more with the term 'Soul Reaper'?"

"You mean like the _Grim Reaper_?", Jack asked, eyes going wide at being thought of in such a way. Well, yeah, his powers could be dangerous and sometimes he couldn't help people dying because of them, no matter how often he went out of his way, trying hard to work against it. And damn he _did_ try, he really did. It was also one of the reasons why he was disliked and shunned by a majority of other spirits. But it wasn't like he could be classified as an outright bringer of death because of what he represented!

"Not quite Death itself, but going in that direction", the dark haired teen somewhat confirmed Jack's worry.

The winter spirit surprised the group when he suddenly jumped up from the bed, the laid-back attitude replaced with indignation written all over his face and posture, as he slammed his staff on the ground. "I'll have you know that I'm a Guardian, and not some bringer of death!"

Only a moment later did he realize that with the outraged slamming of his staff, he had accidentally frozen the carpet, creating a path of frost running straight through Ichigo's room, just barely missing the big guy by the name of Sado who had dodged it unexpectedly quick.

"...Whoops."

-TBC?-


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Something I'd like to clear up; this story takes place after the Xcution arc (so possible spoilers ahead!), where Ichigo regained his Shinigami powers thanks to several people lending him their Reiatsu to reawaken them, but __before__ the Vandenreich make their appearance._

**Chapter 4**

Ichigo seemed to be taking a calming breath, his left eyebrow twitching slightly. "Is there any particular reason for why you just froze my carpet?"

Jack realxed his posture, sending an apologetic glance at Sado who still leaned on his left arm in surpise, keeping his tall body away from the frozen path. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. Told you I'm a little out of it today... guess my control slipped there for a moment." He rubbed his forehead again, sitting back down on the bed, mindful of the the wary looks thrown his way. It looked like his nerves were more frayed with everything that had happened that day than he had thought. The winter spirit cast a subtle glance towards the ceiling – at least he wasn't making it unconsciously snow in the room... yet. He sighed. "Listen, despite what this might have looked like right now, I'm really not a 'bad guy', bringing death or any such thing." _'Well, at least not directly'_, a voice in his mind supplied unbidden. He chose to ignore it. "I mean, I'm a Guardian!", he added as if that explained everything - which it did, at least to him.

Ishida cleared his throat, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I think you misunderstood; Shinigami don't _bring_ death. They purge the souls of already dead people so they can move on, keeping up the balance between the planes of the world." The teen's voice held a pointedly neutral tone, the same went for his face, except for a slight crease around his mouth.

"Oh." Jack blinked at that. How come he had never heard of these Shini-... uh, Reapers before? He was mulling this over, when Ichigo interrupted his thoughts.

"What do you mean with being a 'guardian'?"

Jack looked up at that question. "You don't know about the Guardians?" A single shake of the head was his answer. He held the brown-eyed teen's gaze, thinking about how much he should reveal. These people seemed quite knowledgeable about the spirit world, how come they hadn't heard about the Big Four? (Scratch that, he thought that made them _Five_ now.) Then again – they had just presented him with another kind of spirits _he_ hadn't known about...

The white-haired youth blew out some air, lifting his bangs with the motion. "Okay, where to start... Well, I'm actually still quite new to that whole business, so I might not get _all_ the facts and details there myself... But in short; we were chosen to protect the children of the world. Each one of us has their own centre of what they specifically protect in children." When he noticed the blank looks he got at that, he elaborated, "You know, like North is protecting wonder, and Sandy dreams."

Silence spread over the room again, most of the teen's faces wearing confused frowns.

"I have never heard of such a thing before", Ishida commented after a while. "So you actually protect the living children?"

"Uh, yeah. I didn't know the dead ones also needed protection..." He felt a little uncomfortable saying that. Because, really? Kids walking around aimlessly and unseen by their families after their death, until they're able to move on through getting 'purged' by one of those Reapers? The idea seemed too cruel to him to be the general norm... Or maybe it just reminded him too much of himself, the little voice in his head whispered.

"And how long have you 'Guardians' been doing that?", Ichigo now asked, pulling Jack's concentration once again back to the conversation.

"I've only been officially a Guardian for about a year, but the others have been doing their jobs for centuries now. Just look at how-"

"Then why didn't you help out in any of the recent battles?", the orange-haired youth cut in, his face serious.

"What? What battles?"

"The battles that got the Living World involved! If there actually are Guardians protecting living children, why didn't they step in when their lives were in danger?", Ichigo demanded.

"Woah, wow- hold on!", Jack retorted, thoroughly confused now. "What battles are you even talking about? The only battle there was recently, was the one against Pitch when the children almost stopped believing! If children's _lives _had been in danger, you can sure as hell bet we would have been there to fight!"

Ichigo was opening his mouth to retort something, when Ishida stopped him with a raised hand, cutting into the growingly tense atmosphere.

"Hold on, you two. Something doesn't add up." He turned his blue eyes to the winter spirit. "What plane are you from?"

Surprised about the sudden change of topic, Jack blinked. "Uh... plane?"

"If you stayed in the Living World throughout the last few years, you should be aware of what Kurosaki is talking about. You didn't know of the Shinigami, so you're not from Soul Society. And I seriously doubt you to come from Hueco Mundo. So where are you from?"

Jack's eyes flickered at each unknown Name, feeling more and more lost on the bespectacled teen. "Uhm... Pennsylvania in the United States?", was all he managed to reply to that.

That statement earned him surprised looks.

"So you're actually from the Living World?", Ishida asked sceptically.

The spirit nervously ran a hand through his white hair. This was all slowly becoming way too confusing for him. "Look, I don't even know what you mean with that! There is only one world I'm aware of!"

His exclamation was met with silence.

Surprisingly it was the until then quiet Sado who broke it. "He said he has only been a spirit for a year. Maybe this is simply the first time he has heard of them."

"No, dude. I said I've been a _Guardian_ for a year, not a spirit. And you know what?", the last part was directed at Ishida, while Jack rose from the bed again. "You're right, this isn't adding up." He was starting to pace through the room, his nerves getting the better of him, patience slowly wearing thin. "I have never heard of any Reapers taking souls before. And in all of the last three hundred years, I've never seen the ghost of a deceased person walking around!" The winter spirit suddenly stopped then to face the group of teenagers sitting around the small table, most of them wearing wary expressions, except for the girl. "So either you're pulling some really bad joke on me, or... or... Well, I'm really not in the mood to be messed around with right now, ok!" He usually wasn't so quick to lose his patience and get angry, but all this talk of different worlds had made him feel queasy about the whole situation. Because if these kids were saying the truth, and there truly were different planes or anything of that kind, than the fact that he hadn't been able to locate any of the other Guardians where their homes were supposed to be didn't bode well for him... Not to forget the Wind that didn't remember him, and that felt different yet familiar at the same time... _'What if- what if they're... _elsewhere_?'_

He was surprised about the next thing Ichigo said.

"Could you please stop making it snow in here?"

Jack looked up at the ceiling, noticing that there were indeed snowflakes lazily making their way to the ground. The winter spirit quickly took a calming breath, putting his powers back under control. Ishida and Sado were looking at him with slightly surprised faces, while the girl, Orihime, caught snowfalkes in her opened hand, looking at them with some wonder reflected in her eyes.

"Thanks", the room's owner said when the snow had stopped falling. "I don't suppose you could also remove the ice?", he asked while pointing a finger at the frozen carpet.

Jack could feel a particular cold spreading over his cheeks, and he tried his best to fight the blossoming blush. This was really awkward. When had been the last time his emotions had taken the better of him to such an extent?  
_'Pitch'_, his mind promptly answered.  
"Sorry, I'm afraid it has to melt the normal way..."

The orange-haired teen simply sighed at that, eyes closed for a moment. "Alright, whatever. We'll take care of that later. First things though-"

Jack straightened his back when the teen leaned forward over the table, fixing him with a serious look, preparing for whatever might come.

"No one is trying to mess with you."

Jack felt his jaw clenching, not quite believing that. Someone _did_ have to be responsible for his current predicament.

"Ishida has only been listing facts, trying to figure out what is up with you. For all we know, _you_ might be the one messing around here. And considering the history of trouble we had whenever strange people popped up out of nowhere, I feel we have been rather friendly and open towards you so far." He paused his speech there, making sure the point sank in. "Now, try seeing it from our side; all we know for sure about you, is that you're a soul with spiritual powers. We don't know where you're from, we don't know what you're up to and everything you have told us so far, doesn't match up with what we know about the spiritual world. And we know quite a bit", he added with a pointed look, to which Ishida cleared his throat, silently pointing out just _who_ had been providing the knowledge so far. Ichigo sent the other teen a brief glare before fixing his gaze back on the spirit.

When nothing else was said, Jack tightened the grip around his staff, realizing they were waiting for him to explain himself. But what was he even to tell them? All of this didn't make any sense.

"Look, I-..." He sighed in exasperation. "Nothing of this makes any sense. Ever since I have fallen through the pond, the world has gone crazy."

Ichigo blinked at that. "You fell into a pond?"

"No, I fell _through_ a pond. And I can't shake the feeling that all of this has something to do with that."

A few seconds passed before Ichigo repeated, "You fell _through_ a pond", making it almost sound like another question.

The spirit nodded once, face serious. "Yeah."

And that was when Jack learned he hadn't reached the limit of weird looks thrown his way for the day quite yet.

-TBC?-

* * *

_A/N: Ugh, somehow I had a hard time writing this chapter, even though it basically consists of just conversation. :c I felt like stopping it here since I don't know how hard the next part of this "let's clear this situation/background up"-thing will be to write, so here, have at least a small update.  
Hope I didn't make anyone too out of character in the conversation so far.  
Also, I'm mostly making shit up while I write, so take the explanations of Bleach's spirit world with a grain of salt._

_Oh, and I just noticed I haven't thanked you guys for the reviews o_o (And that even though I do a little dance of joy on my chair every time I get a notification.) Ugh, shame on me!  
So, let me do that now; thanks to everyone who reviewed so far! I may not find the words to reply to each single review, but do know that I read and appreciate all of them, they're quite a motivating force to me! You guys rock~_

_And some more thanks to those who made suggestions! I'll think those ideas over and see if my plot bunnies can spin something out of them - I can't guarantee that I'll end up using them for certain, though. Still, thank you for sending those ideas over and feel free to keep them coming :)_


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